New economic advisory panel for President Obama

[Undercurrent]

President Obama unveiled a team of economic advisers Friday, a group drawn from corporate, labor and academic circles and tasked with providing the administration counsel from beyond his inner circle of aides.

"I'm not interested in groupthink, which is why the board reflects a cross-section of experience and expertise and ideology," Obama said.



Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to lead.

Austan Goolsbee, a University of Chicago economist who has been one of Obama's top economic advisors, will serve as staff director and chief economist of the board.

Other board members:

-- Anna Burger, secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union

-- Richard L. Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO

-- Laura D'Andrea Tyson, dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley

-- Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker professor of economics at Harvard University

-- William H. Donaldson, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission

-- Roger W. Ferguson Jr., president & CEO of TIAA-CREF

-- Robert Wolf, chairman and CEO of UBS Group Americas

-- David F. Swensen, CIO of Yale University

-- Mark T. Gallogly, founder and managing partner of Centerbridge Partners L.P.

-- Penny Pritzker, chairman and founder of Pritzker Realty Group

-- John Doerr, partner in Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers

-- Jim Owens, chairman and CEO of Caterpillar Inc.

-- Monica C. Lozano, publisher and CEO of La Opinion

-- Charles E. Phillips Jr., president of Oracle Corporation

-- Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE


info from both of the following links:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/06/MNU815PCR1.DTL&type=politics

http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/06/news/economy/fed_board/?postversion=2009020611

[peace13]

1. Who there has small business interests at heart?

Very sad. We are in trouble here.

[Honeycombe8]

2. The economists? Also, I don't recognize several of those cos. Maybe they're small?

If not, that's a good question.

[MadHound]

3. Just what we need, more centerist and corporatist economic advice

Geez, this is going to get ugly.

[democrattotheend]

4. This is good news

I am very happy to see some labor leaders at the table, especially Trumka. I was disappointed that Obama did not introduce his labor secretary when he introduced the rest of his economic team, but hopefully this will mean labor leaders will have his ear.

[Undercurrent]

5. I'm happy to see labor at the table too.

That is certainly a change from Bush, and his thuggish band of cronies.

Trumka is excellent. Anna Burger is a very strong woman's labor voice (more about her at Change to Win: http://www.changetowin.org/about-us/leadership-and-affiliated-unions/anna-burger.html ) Laura Tyson had experience under Clinton.

I'm also glad to see Monica Lozano who probably has the pulse of the Hispanic community as the publisher of La Opinion (largest Spanish-language newspaper in US) as well as strong academic cred.